SGA Student Senate elects a president pro-temp and prepares for the new term

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The Auburn University Student Senate elected its president pro-temp and finished its training for the term on Feb. 26. The Student Senate will begin to hold their regular meetings March 5.

Newly elected President Pro-Temp Daniel Calhoun, sophomore in marketing and Spanish international trade, wants to stay approachable as both a senator and as the President Pro-Temp.

This is Calhoun’s first term in the student Senate serving as a senator for the College of Business. He decided he wanted to run in October 2017 and began to attend every Senate meeting to learn how the Senate operates.

“I just feel like, for the most part, I am very personable,” Calhoun said. “My goal is to be friends with everyone and make relationships with everyone, and I want people to know that. Schyler [Burney, SGA vice president] worked very hard to make things organized, and I want people to think I am the same way.”

As for within the College of Business, he wants students to stay connected with their interim dean and their senators, Calhoun said.

“A goal I have for the College of Business is to unify all of the organizations within the College of Business,” Calhoun said. “I want to have a meeting once every month or two months with all of the presidents of all the organizations just so we know who is running what and what is happening in the College of Business. I want to be involved in every step of that process.”

The Student Senate is now fully trained in their new roles and ready to begin full meetings because of campaign promises now SGA Vice President Schyler Burney, junior in economics, made.

In her campaign, Burney advocated for a more thorough orientation and transition process for the newly elected Senate. In their last two meetings, the Senate has received training on drafting bills, debating within the Senate and other important topics for senators.

“I think we’ve laid the foundation to do some great work this year,” Burney said. “I’m really excited to jump in to actually have legislation come to the floor. My next goals are reaching out to Faculty Senate and figuring out how we establish that presence there.”

There are students on Faculty Senate committees, but Burney wants to have a student in those Faculty Senate meeting to ensure the presence of the student voice in those meetings, Burney said.

In the last sessions of the previous Senate Burney, serving as a senator for the College of Liberal Arts, introduced and helped pass legislation to help the training process and help old senators sit down with new senators.

The meetings are meant to allow old senators to talk with new senators about goals they may not have accomplished and projects they want to see carried out in the new Senate. Those meetings will be arranged within the coming weeks with the help of the new President Pro-Temp, Burney said.

“The next big goal is bringing in non-voting liaisons from other student governance organizations,” Burney said. “We will have 34 members in here shortly [there are positions still awaiting appoint] and after that bringing in those other perspectives. And I think the way to do that and to pave the way to expanding Senate’s reach is inviting those non-voting members to come and have a voice here.”

The next step for Senate is to create the Senate committees and begin creating and discussing legislation.